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“I’ve shocked you.”

“We are in the middle of a soiree, Your Grace. You are being very wicked.”

“I find myself wishing for a darkened room in which to play with you.”

“Stop. Someone will hear and get the wrong idea.”

“Will they? Perhaps I am not clear enough. I want to be alone with you.”

“Shh. Think of your mother and sister,” she said.

He made a face. “That I do not wish to do.”

“You are impossible. I am leaving now to play cards.”

He watched her go with a smile.

As the night progressed, whereby his glass had been refilled many times and having witnessed those around him making fools of themselves, he was ready to go home. He was a little foxed, to be honest. The warmth that the alcohol had produced had made him sleepy, but he stayed awake until they got home. After all the goodnights had been said, he made his way to his room and put on his banyan. He told Jameson he would ready himself for bed and took up residence in the chair by the fire.

Alone, he contemplated the evening and his flirtatious conversation with Rose. Lord, how he wanted her. Just thinking about how her eyes had sparkled when he had told her he wanted to play with her. He had not been lying either. He wanted desperately to kiss her, suckle at her breasts, and taste her between her thighs. His cock stirred, and he stood to pace the floor. This could not go on. He had not been so frustrated in a long time. He acknowledged that he was obsessed with her. With the thought of her. If they kept their liaison quiet, secret, and behind a locked door, surely they would be free to dally as they wished.

Then he remembered Jameson’s words about all the staff already thinking they were having a liaison. How could he be with her and keep the servants in the dark? He looked at the mantel clock. There would only be a footman at the front door at this time of night, no doubt dozing.

He picked up his candle and went to the door. He closed it and made his way barefooted to Rose’s room. Turning the handle, he stepped inside. He could see her sitting in her chair by her fire in much the same pose he had been in, the flames reflecting off her pale face.

Rose turned at the sound of his feet on the wood floor and immediately stood, coming towards him, her face full of worry. “Edward? Are you all right? Are you having another attack?”

He put his hands over hers when they landed on his chest. “No. I am fine.”

She searched his face as if she did not quite believe him. “Then what are you doing here?”

“I needed to see you.”

She tried to pull away. “You know you cannot do this. If someone saw you…”

“No one saw me,” he said, and then he dipped his head and kissed her. For a moment she did not react, and he thought he may have read her wrong, but then she opened her mouth to him, and he swept inside her sweet mouth for a kiss he had been thinking about for days.

Her hands reached up and her fingers tangled in his hair while his hand roamed her body through the sheer nightgown she wore. Lord, she felt so soft, so warm, so…Rose. He kissed her more urgently, and she matched him, her hands now tugging at his shirt, so it came free from his pants.

Edward released her lips just long enough to pull the shirt over his head and onto the floor, then ravished her mouth again as her hands spread over his chest, exploring him as he was exploring her.

When her fingers quested down his torso to the bulge in his pantaloons, he gasped and stayed her hand. “Gently, if you please.”

“Tell me what to do.”

He put his hand over hers and let her feel the shape of him until he was rock hard for her.

“Am I doing it right? Am I hurting you?”

“You are a quick learner. Pleasure is a kind of pain but one worth the end result.”

“Oh,” she said. He lifted her off the ground and took the steps to her bed. There he laid her down softly and leaned over her.

“I will show you how good it can be between us.” He kissed her again. He made his way to the back of her ear where he knew she liked to be kissed, and then the creamy shoulder that he bared when he tugged at the string at her neck. He pushed her nightgown down to bare her breasts.

“You are magnificent,” he told her before lowering his head to take one puckered nipple into his mouth.

“Oh, Edward. That feels so good.”